Contrasting Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) and CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP)

Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) and CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Relay Therapeutics and CRISPR Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Relay Therapeutics	1	1	11	1	2.86
CRISPR Therapeutics	1	6	8	2	2.65

Relay Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 49.34%. CRISPR Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $72.93, indicating a potential upside of 71.11%. Given CRISPR Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe CRISPR Therapeutics is more favorable than Relay Therapeutics.

Risk & Volatility

Relay Therapeutics has a beta of 1.74, meaning that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CRISPR Therapeutics has a beta of 1.92, meaning that its share price is 92% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Relay Therapeutics and CRISPR Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Relay Therapeutics	$15.35 million	260.26	-$276.48 million	($1.51)	-11.97
CRISPR Therapeutics	$3.51 million	1,177.82	-$581.60 million	($4.74)	-8.99

Relay Therapeutics has higher revenue and earnings than CRISPR Therapeutics. Relay Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CRISPR Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Relay Therapeutics and CRISPR Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Relay Therapeutics	N/A	-40.25%	-36.82%
CRISPR Therapeutics	-1,812.07%	-25.59%	-17.89%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.0% of Relay Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.2% of CRISPR Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 5.0% of Relay Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of CRISPR Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

About Relay Therapeutics

Relay Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing medicines for patients with serious diseases, with an emphasis on cancer. The company uses its computational drug discovery platform to study how proteins move and interact, aiming to identify drug targets and design therapies against them. Relay’s research combines experimental biology, structural biology and computational methods. Its drug development programs have included candidates targeting cancer-related pathways, such as FGFR2 and PI3Kα.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics AG is a biotechnology company focused on developing gene-based medicines using CRISPR/Cas9, a gene-editing technology that can make targeted changes to DNA. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, and maintains U.S. operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its lead product, Casgevy (exa-cel), was developed with Vertex Pharmaceuticals for people with sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. It was the first therapy based on CRISPR gene editing to receive regulatory approval.